Bob Books are boxed sets of little readers designed for children just beginning to string together letter sounds to read words. They've been around for years, and have recently been re-released in well-organized sets. The author, Bobbly Lynn Maslen, was a teacher of 4-6 year olds when she first started creating simple stories for her young students, and these eventually evolved into Bob Books.
The series is set up as follows:
- Bob Books First! (Level A, Set 1)
- Bob Books Fun! (Level A, Set 2)
- Bob Books Kids! (Level B, Set 1)
- Bob Books Pals! (Level B, Set 2)
- Bob Books Wow! (Level C, Set 1)
Each set contains from 8-12 books, each with 12-24 pages. Level A features very basic words with only short vowel sounds. Consonant blends are introduced in Level B, and short vowels are still featured. Finally, Level C introduces long vowel sounds as well as compound words.
The first boxed set, Bob Books First!, is appropriate for the very youngest of readers. There are 12 books in this first set, and the text consists of small, easily decodable, phonetically-regular words. A typical line is "Red hen is on a big bed". Once children have worked their way through all of the books in the set, they will have been exposed to the regular sounds of all letters of the alphabet except Q. These books are very manageable - it is hard to find anything easier to read than these, as virtually no sight words are used.
As children move through the series, graduating from one set to the next, they are gradually introduced to slightly more complex reading challenges and longer stories. They begin with short vowel sounds and no sight words, then advance with a progressive introduction to sight words, blends, and longer words, including compound words.
The black-and-white line drawings in these readers might seem old-fashioned until you realize how these illustrations support the whole system. For one thing, though cute and pleasing, they are not as eye-catching as more colorful drawings and thus, send an unspoken message to children to pay more attention to the words of the story. Parents who recognize in their young readers a tendency to easily become distracted by fanciful illustrations will find that Bob Books help train kids to focus on word cues more than picture/context cues.
The design of the books is very simple, and they seem to have been deliberately created this way. Their little size conveys a sense of manageability to budding readers. Though larger, unwieldy books can be attractive for children to look at, kids may not feel as confident attempting to read them. At the back of each book, lists of newly introduced letters, blends, endings, and more are available. Parents might preview these with their children before they attempt each book in order to maximize success and help with reading fluency.
Note that the Bob Books series features very controlled vocabulary. As a result, the text is a little less natural and flowing than that of other readers that favor a whole language approach to reading.
Even with a plethora of early readers on the market, there is a shortage of ones that begin with truly easy and consistently decodable words for the very young. Children who don't easily learn sight words can still begin their learn-to-read journey with Bob Books, relying almost entirely on basic phonics rules at the outset. The early sets help build a nice foundation in phonics while simultaneously building confidence in children. What a delight it is when children can triumphantly declare that they've read a book!
You might be interested in our review of Brand New Readers - another excellent early set of readers that employs a very different approach. As children vary in their interests and responses to early reading challenges, it is a good idea to try out different readers and observe how children respond to the different styles.
Note: Bob Books were previously sold as Bob Books and More Bob Books.
